


Satellite

by garciraki



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Accidental Relationship, Dialogue Heavy, Fluff, Height Differences, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-24 18:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6162761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garciraki/pseuds/garciraki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hinata was beaming up at him like <i>he</i> was the sun, as if Kei wasn't the one who had gotten caught up in his orbit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Satellite

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for rose (@nitori-aiichiros) for the hq!! rarepair exchange on tumblr. here is a Tol and a Smol, as requested. i'm sorry that this is kind of rushed and rough, but i really hope that you like this!!

 

"Hey, Tsukki?"

"What?"

Yamaguchi pressed his lips together and waited in silence until Kei turned his head to face him, a mixture of confusion, irritation, and intrigue flitting across his features before they settled into impassiveness. Yamaguchi inhaled deeply.

"Tsukki, are you and Hinata . . . dating?"

Kei raised a single eyebrow as Yamaguchi scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry, Tsukki, it's just that. Well. You just seem. Happier around him lately. And actually being around him more. And it kind of gives off that impression?"

Kei squinted slightly before rolling his eyes. "Whatever your impression is, it's clearly incorrect. I'm spending the same amount of time around him that _you_ are, in case you forgot."

"Didn't you tutor him the other day without me, though?"

 

* * *

 

The mad crescendo of incoming footfalls came to a halt beside Kei as he changed into his outdoor shoes.

"T-tsukishima!"

Kei looked up at Hinata's face (for once), already rearranging his features into an expression of disinterest. Hinata was still breathing a little heavily from his rush, face glowing a soft pink with the exertion. Kei couldn't help but think that, at least from this angle, Hinata looked almost . . . _cute_.

Casting away his traitorous thoughts with a scoff, Kei rose back up to his full height before settling into a casual slouch. "What?"

"Tsukishima!" Hinata repeated, "Tsukishima-san," he corrected, after a moment's deliberation. "Please help me with my Literature homework!"

"I've told you already. Multiple times. I'll only help you out before or after club activities," Kei pointed out, "And I'm sure that even you've realized that there are no club activities today."

"I know that! I'm not an idiot!" Hinata exclaimed with a stomp of his foot.

"Says the guy that needs help with his homework."

Hinata let out an exasperated shriek. He screwed his face into a pout, muttering to himself in frustration. Adorable, Kei's brain helpfully supplied.

Before that thought could escape his mouth Kei defaulted to his usual phrases. "Sorry, could you repeat what you just said? I couldn't hear you all the way down there."

Hinata took in a deep breath, clearly trying to calm himself down. His attempt failed.

"Listen to me, please," he beseeched, a note of desperation creeping into his voice. "Yachi-san has an errand to run today and my class has a test tomorrow and I already asked literally everyone else and I really really really can't afford to fail this so please help me Tsukishima I'll do _anything_!"

" _Anything_?"

"Well, no. Who knows what sort of thing you'd ask me to do. But I'll buy you pastries from the one bakery you like—don't try to argue with me I see you go in there all the time—for a week. Two if I get higher than an 80."

"Weren't you celebrating just last week that you got higher than a _thirty_? I think that 80 is really pushing it, even for an optimistic idiot like you."

"Look. Either way, you get free food, okay? Just. Please help me out this once?"

Kei considered the offer. On one hand, he'd have to spent time with Hinata, for more than just a day, considering the terms of his reward. On the other hand, he'd get to spend time with Hinata.

Honestly, he'd already made up his mind the first time Hinata asked, but appearances were appearances. Making a big show of mulling it over and sighing dramatically, Kei finally conceded.

"Fine. Don't expect me to do any of your work for you though."

 

* * *

 

"He offered me compensation," Kei retorted with a lopsided shrug.

"Compensation?" Yamaguchi asked, eyebrows slowly travelling up his forehead.

Kei scowled deeply. "Just that he'd treat me at that one bakery near Sakanoshita every day for a week."

Yamaguchi considered it for a moment before his eyebrows shot up even higher. "Don't they open early enough that you could've just had him bring you one at school before class instead of going on a date with him every day?"

"Okay, first of all, those were _not_ dates, and second of all—"

 

* * *

 

"Hey! _Hey!_ Tsukishima!" Hinata called as he ran, flapping a sheet of paper around wildly.

"Look what I got! It's all thanks to you!"

Kei snatched away the test waving frantically in his face in irritation, pushing up his glasses as he looked at the score. A bright red "64" was circled boldly at the top of the paper. He lowered the test, a derisive remark already prepared to roll off his tongue but—

Hinata was beaming up at him like _he_ was the sun, as if Kei wasn't the one who had gotten caught up in his orbit.

He swallowed back his insults, or whatever embarrassing _things_ might have otherwise come out, and managed to wrestle his features into a mask of indifference.

"It's certainly an improvement," he settled with, handing the paper back to Hinata.

"I know, right?" Hinata said, "I nearly passed this time!"

A sudden thought seemed to take him by surprise, his face briefly falling before melting into a disturbing mirror-image of Kei's.

"Ha! Too bad you only get a week's worth of a reward."

"Unfortunate," Kei stated blankly. Unfortunate indeed, since that would be—

"One less week without your _charming_ company," he drawled, tone masking the sincerity of his statement.

"And one less week without _yours_!" Hinata replied cheerily, already beginning to tug Kei towards the school gates.

 

* * *

 

"He _literally_ dragged me along with him."

"Is that what that was?" Yamaguchi asked innocently, "From what I heard some of the girls in class saying it looked like you were almost holding hands."

Kei turned away, face gradually tinging pink with the memory.

"Wait—I was just kidding with that? Did he _actually_ hold your hand?"

 

* * *

 

Kei shook Hinata's hand off of the elbow of his sleeve.

"Watch it. I ironed my uniform just yesterday. I don't need your grubby hands scrabbling all over it."

"If I can't grab your uniform I guess this'll do instead."

Hinata seized his hand around Kei's wrist continuing his haphazard escort down the street.

Kei had always known that Hinata was small, had made it abundantly clear, but the sudden contact reminded him again, small hand barely wrapping around his sturdy wrists.

He could have— _should_ have—shaken him off again. He was, after all, perfectly capable of following Hinata to a place that he himself already, but even this contact, not even a _proper_ handholding, sent warmth up his spine.

He would have stuck close in any case. His strong grip was entirely unnecessary when his gravity kept Kei attracted to him. _Not in_ that _way_ , he rationalized. No matter how much hotheaded guys annoyed him, they also had a way with attracting—and holding—attention.

_Sure, if that's how you want to think about it_ , said a part of his mind that sounded suspiciously like Yamaguchi. 

 

* * *

 

"Shut up, Yamaguchi."

"Sorry, Tsukki!" he replied, clearly not sorry at all in the slightest.

It's not that Kei hadn't ever tried thinking about Hinata in that way. The other way. But if he saw Hinata that way. And if, heaven forbid, Hinata saw him that way, then that would've meant—

 

* * *

 

 

The sixth day of their arrangement went the same way as the five days prior: Hinata accosted Kei on his way home from class or practice; Hinata would hold Kei by the wrist and lead him past the school gates, down the slope, and to the bakery; Hinata would bounce up to the counter and ask Kei what he wanted ("strawberry shortcake," muttered quietly);  Hinata would hem and haw over the various pastries on display for exactly six and a half minutes before randomly grabbing something off the top shelf.

It diverged in this way: Hinata rummaged around in his bag for another eighty-three seconds, counting out exact change. He thanked the cashier, as usual, and sent his regards to the baker, as usual. He turned to give Kei his slice of cake, as usual and said:

"Hey, Tsukishima, how about we eat together this time?"

And instead of parting ways, as usual, as Kei would don his headphones and walk home alone, as usual, they sat down at one of those tiny round metal tables outside the bakery, the legs of their chairs screeching across the pavement as they pulled them out.

And instead Kei sat across from Hinata, watching as frosting smeared all over his face from today's random selection (a cinnamon roll), painstakingly slicing his shortcake into bite-sized pieces.

And instead of turning around partway home and watching Hinata's receding back, Kei picked up a napkin (his own) and carefully dabbed away the crumbs on his lips, picked up a second napkin (also his own), and wiped the frosting off of Hinata's face.

And instead of exploding with anger, or surprise, or in an otherwise Hinata-like fashion, his face flushed a brilliant red as he turned his head bashfully, red like the strawberry still dangling, half-forgotten on Kei's fork.

And instead of making fun of his embarrassment, or forcing out an apology (of questionable sincerity), Kei felt his own face heating up in response, as Hinata glanced back up at him bashfully.

"T-tomorrow is the last day of our agreement, but—"

"No."

"I didn't even finish asking yet!"

"You wanted me to tutor you again, didn't you?"

"Actually, no. I wanted to ask if you wanted to keep doing this. Except with you, y'know, paying for your own food."

"I wouldn't be entirely against that, if we traded off."

 

* * *

 

 

—that he _was_ , in fact, dating Hinata Shouyou.

Oh.

"Shut up, Yamaguchi."

"I didn't even say anything yet!"

**Author's Note:**

> *sweats* can u tell that i've never written anything besides crack fics before
> 
> shout-out to hq!! net people for yelling @ me to write here's proof that i can spell


End file.
